1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to hat stretchers and, more particularly, to a hat stretcher having spring loaded lockable arms for coarse adjustment, a threaded shaft for fine adjustment and extended arcuate bands for engaging the hat band.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Hat stretchers have been used for many years to maintain hats in proper shape during storage, drying and cleaning. The most commonly used hat stretchers include a pair of arcuate plates, or bands, with threaded rods interconnected by a turnbuckle or similar structure. Manual rotation of the turnbuckle relocates the arcuate bands toward or away from one another to adjust the hat stretcher to the proper size for the hat to be stretched. This type of hat stretcher is cumbersome to use as it is difficult to hold that hat to be stretched and to hold the hat stretcher in place while manually rotating the turnbuckle to size the hat stretcher. Each time the same hat is to be stretched between periods of use, this rather cumbersome installation and adjustment procedure must be repeated.
Other hat stretching devices have been used which are more properly described as hat expanders or hat blocking devices. Hat expanders incorporate four arcuate expander blocks that cooperate to define an oval configuration. A diametrically opposed pair of the expander blocks are interconnected by a turnbuckle adjustment structure and the other two expander blocks are connected to the diametrically opposed pair with links and springs. Manual rotation of the turnbuckle causes all four of the expander blocks to move toward or away from each other. In addition to the increased complexity and costs of hat expanders, they suffer from the problem of being cumbersome to install and adjust and the cumbersome installation and adjustment must be repeated for each time of use.